APS Testing Energy Storage in Flagstaff

The energy storage pilot will be two-fold. In 2012, the energy storage system, which was developed by Electrovaya Inc., a lithium-ion battery manufacturing company, will reside in an electrical distribution substation. At a later date, the system will be trucked a few miles up the road to support a neighborhood-scale solar power plant.

In the substation, the system will store energy when it is inexpensive and the electricity flowing through the substation equipment is at lower capacity. Then, APS will have the ability to dispatch the energy at times of higher demand when electricity is both more expensive to purchase or produce and equipment is at maximum capacity.

“The steadier flow of electricity on peak days could keep our equipment healthy for longer periods, so we can improve reliability and keep maintenance costs down,” says APS Energy Storage Project Manager Joe Wilhelm. “In the future, if a piece of equipment fails and causes an outage, we could also dispatch energy from storage units temporarily until repairs were made.”